Home Intro
|
|
Interview with Dr. Yangchun Park, new CEO of ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea
Yangchun Park, new CEO of thyssenkrupp Elevator Korea "Leading the industry with products that no one can imagine" Leading change and innovation with selective sales strategy, becoming the BMW of the elevator industry 2012/07  "We need to simplify our products through innovation, creation and ingenuity, and sell the right products to the right customers." Yangchun Park, the new CEO of ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea, who has just celebrated his 100th day in office, is determined to change the industry by launching "trend-setting, out-of-the-box" products instead of "following the pack". With the idea that smart companies pursue change and innovation after creating a product, he has already begun to plan a new strategy to gain an edge over other companies. After graduating from Konkuk University in 1984 and working for Otis Elevator for more than 25 years through Hyundai Heavy Industries and LG Industries, he recently served as CEO of Sigma Elevator, Otis' Chinese subsidiary, and said that he will build ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea into a "quiet but strong" company without trial and error. As the new head of ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea, please tell us about your commitment to the company. As the head of a company, I think the most important issue is how to lead the company well and what kind of image we want to leave with our customers. Since ThyssenKrupp Elevator entered Korea in 2003, through the M&A with Dongyang Elevator, our company has changed as much as the industry environment has changed, from ThyssenKrupp Dongyang Elevator to the current ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea. The current elevator market is a fiercely competitive market, and in this atmosphere, I plan to utilize the strengths of the existing Dongyang Elevator and implement the best operational strategy to clearly establish the system of the new owner, ThyssenKrupp Elevator. Since there are many employees who have worked at Dongyang Elevator, I will listen to their voices and find consensus on strategies, thoughts, and directions to move forward on a unified path. I will continue to share information with employees about the direction of the company. For example, we will be taking steps to discuss and plan activities at each location through employee workshops and training courses by November, ahead of the company brand launch. We also want our customers to feel that we are a new company that has been reborn from the image of a company that has changed its name, and we will work tirelessly to eliminate the unfamiliarity of the ThyssenKrupp name itself. Just as Germany's ThyssenKrupp Elevator dominates the global elevator market, we will position ourselves as the BMW of the Korean elevator industry. How do you plan to make your company sustainable and what are your top priorities? For us, sustainability means that we can continue to generate profits. The elevator business has different business models in different countries, but the current Korean market, which is over 60% urbanized, is in the stage of entering the developed world with stagnant new demand. Therefore, the central model of the elevator business is maintenance and service, and I believe that measures should be taken to create a sustainable structure. Another is to maximize profits through overseas exports. Currently, if you look at major export markets such as South America, Asia, and the Middle East, most of the global companies are producing and selling products in Chinese factories. Armed with Korean products and the ThyssenKrupp brand, we will have to find a growth strategy that will give us an edge in competition with Chinese products. What are the unique features and strengths of ThyssenKrupp Elevator products from the perspective of the CEO? ThyssenKrupp Elevator's greatest strengths are its high product technology based on advanced German technology and the experience and know-how accumulated in the Korean market over the past 50 years. We are planning to take the lead in the high-speed elevator market by focusing on destination selection control systems (DSC), twin elevators, and other high-speed elevators, including the Samsung Electronics Seocho Office Building, NHN Green Factory, Haeundae I-Park in Busan, KEPCO New Hall, and Hanoi Landmark Building in Gyeongnam. Twin elevators, which are optimized for high-rise buildings, are an innovative technology that only ThyssenKrupp Elevators has in the world, and is a system in which two elevators operate independently of each other on one hoistway. This significantly increases capacity without increasing the number of hoistways and makes efficient use of building space. Based on a group of four elevators, twin elevators can save a quarter of the space and increase capacity by 40% compared to conventional elevators. Destination Selection Control (DSC) is also one of the key features of twin elevators, a system that allows passengers to press the destination floor they want to go to in the hall before boarding the elevator, and then designates the elevator that will get them there the fastest. With the recent trend of increasing orders for high-rise elevators, please tell us about any current projects or future plans for ThyssenKrupp Elevator Korea. We are planning to focus on the ultra-high rise market following the KEPCO New Hall (51 floors) in 2011. We are currently pursuing orders for the Busan IFC (330m, 67 floors), the Yongsan Landmark Building (620m, 111 floors), and the Global Business Center (540m, 110 floors), and we are particularly looking forward to installing twin elevators, which are unique to ThyssenKrupp. The twin elevator will dramatically increase the efficiency of high-rise buildings. In addition, we plan to expand exports by targeting overseas markets and strengthen customer management in the growing repair and replacement market. The rush of multinational companies into Korea in the early 2000s changed the elevator industry. Now, more than a decade later, some companies are pulling out of Korea or downsizing their operations. What are your thoughts on this? I think everyone in the industry is concerned and worried about this, but I think we have another opportunity in the size and change of the Korean market, which is not small. The new installation market in Korea has been steadily growing at 25,000 units per year. In fact, it may be a curiosity for us at a time when multinational companies are pulling out. Rather than an unconditional volume offensive and aggressive marketing, we will show a structured sales strategy with a simple model that can stimulate customers' curiosity. If you have a strategy for the new domestic installation market. First of all, it is necessary to upgrade the overall level of the existing Dongyang Elevator. Factories should have the idea that they should produce the highest level of products. Just as the German light car 'Mini Cooper' is sold at a high price despite its small capacity, elevators will soon introduce a special model that is 'not currently available in Korea'. We are working on a project called 'Mini Cooper', which is an innovative product that is not a product that comes out of the blue, but a product that has good judgment and insight. Just as the iPhone dominated the smartphone market with a single model, we will create a product and then lead innovation and change in the industry. The advantage of a global company is that we can gather successful models from each country and apply them all. We will work to generate profits in the short term and increase brand value in the mid- to long-term. Just as a company sets clear goals and leaders set directions, we still have many shortcomings, but I want to quickly show employees the direction we will take by utilizing my know-how in the industry. On the future of the elevator industry at home and abroad. The elevator market is likely to see the entire market go to China in a few years, so the customers who enjoy it will have to experience the quality of 10 years ago again at a lower price. So for the company, it will be a matter of what form of quality they deliver to their customers, and they will have to think a lot about whether to increase their dependence on China or maintain their own system. But given recent examples of manufacturing plants in the U.S. moving back to the U.S. from China, I think South Korea could follow suit. Considering that GM has set a starting salary of $30,000 to ensure manufacturing competition and that Chinese labor costs are rising sharply compared to the past, it seems that Korea can compete with China once the communization phenomenon is eliminated. Especially, once the FTA is signed, Korea will be able to export products to China, and there will be many advantages for the three northeastern provinces and areas with high concentrations of kyopo, so the industry will have to work together to turn the crisis into a good time. The pie is getting bigger in the elevator service market. In particular, the Korean maintenance service market is accustomed to POG contracts and will have to change to FM contracts as soon as possible. In developed countries, FM contracts account for more than 50% of the total, and services under the professional system are operated transparently. However, in Korea, all the focus is on the lowest price for unquantifiable services such as dispatch, repair, and friendliness. Therefore, the government should establish standards for evaluating services and improve service quality through reorganization of laws such as the Apartment Management Act. |
|
